CLIMBS CHANGING: STEEPER AND SHORTER

Several hundred climbs have been examined in this new analysis from Danskebjerge.dk.

In recent years, something has happened to the climbs of the Tour de France: The percentages of the slopes have gone up, while the length of the climbs has been decreasing.

That's one of the conclusions from a small study made by the Danish website Danskebjerge.dk. The study involves 427 Tour climbs from the years 2006-2009 and 2012-2014. (Read more here.)

In the first period, an average categorized climb had a steepness of 5.8 percent and a length of 9.4 kilometers. In 2012-2014, the steepness is 6.6 percent, and the length 7.8 kilometers. In a nutshell: The climbs are steeper, but shorter. And this development is seen in all of the five categories - from the HC category down to category 4.

Please note: This analysis is from 2014. A new similar analysis has been carried out in 2016. Go to the more recent article here!

However, the way in which the steepness and length change from category to category remains more or less the same. Both then and now, the main difference between the categories is the length of the climbs, whereas the difference in steepness is less noticeable. For instance, an average HC climb is more than four times longer than an average category 3 climb, while the slope is only 0.8 percent higher.

Read the entire analysis at Danskebjerge.dk, and see a diagram of the results, HERE. >>

Photo: Danskebjerge.dk.



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